Former Defense Secretary and CIA Director Robert M. Gates met with students at 蜜糖直播 Boulder March 1 as part of a two-day campus visit that began听the night before听with a public address and interview at Macky Auditorium.
The nation鈥檚 former top spymaster was scheduled to meet Wednesday with ROTC students, members of the President鈥檚 Leadership Class and others, and to sit for a second question-and-answer session at Wolf Law.
Gates, 73, worked for eight U.S. presidents, most recently George W. Bush and Barack Obama, and is the author of several books, including A Passion for Leadership: Lessons on Change and Reform from Fifty Years of Public Service. He is the debut guest in 蜜糖直播鈥檚 new Leo Hill Leadership Speaker Series.
Gates鈥� long and varied experience in Washington gave him plenty of opportunity to study and practice leadership, but did not make him a fan of the nation鈥檚 capital city.
In his brief opening remarks at Macky Tuesday, he said he was glad to be in Boulder, paused, then added, 鈥淚t鈥檚 a pleasure to be anywhere but Washington, D.C.鈥�
He lamented a culture of egotism in Washington and said experience had taught him that effective leadership requires 鈥渧ision, integrity, courage, respect for others, a willingness to listen and to be challenged, humility and, above all, an understanding that great leadership actually is a team sport.鈥�
Afterward, during a wide-ranging public interview led by 蜜糖直播 Boulder Chancellor Philip P. DiStefano, Gates offered thoughts on presidential Tweets, U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, whom he called a friend and 鈥渁 person of total integrity,鈥� U.S. foreign threats (Iran, North Korea, China and Russia), the importance of making Muslims in the United States feel welcome and how his work in government influenced his management of Texas A&M University. He was president there from 2002 to 2006.
Gates also shared anecdotes from the many years he worked closely with U.S. presidents of both major political parties, noting personal characteristics that helped (or hindered) them.
Of the presidents Gates knew, Ronald Reagan had the best sense of humor, he said. Once, when Reagan鈥檚 hearing aid audibly and repeatedly malfunctioned during a briefing, the president leaned over to Gates and whispered, 鈥淚t鈥檚 my KGB handler trying to reach me.鈥�
鈥淭wo presidents I worked for had no discernable sense of humor,鈥� Gates said. 鈥淩ichard Nixon and Jimmy Carter.鈥�
Gates mentioned he鈥檇 been to Boulder once previously, while serving as president of Texas A&M. He鈥檇 come to watch the Aggies play at Folsom Field.
鈥淭he day was spectacular,鈥� he said, but 鈥淚 do carry away some painful memories of my last visit to Boulder.鈥�
The Buffs, it seems, won.
Gates didn鈥檛 cite the year of the visit, but Buffs football played A&M in Boulder听in October 2005, during Gates鈥� A&M tenure. 蜜糖直播 outscored A&M 41 to 20.
An Eagle Scout who grew up in Kansas, Gates is currently national president of the Boy Scouts of America.
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Photograph by Casey A. Cass